Chemicals obtained from grape seed extract show promise in animal studies as a way to prevent sunlight-induced skin cancer when used as a dietary supplement, according to researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

In studies using mouse models of ultraviolet-light-induced (non-melanoma) skin cancer, mice that were fed diets supplemented with the grape seed compounds, a group of antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, showed a reduction in tumor number (up to 65 percent fewer) and size (up to 78 percent smaller) in comparison to control animals that did not receive the compounds, the researchers say.

The compounds appear to work by inhibiting suppression of the immune system caused by ultraviolet light exposure, says Santosh Katiyar, Ph.D., an associate professor in the university?s department of dermatology.